Houston County, Georgia

Detention Center

Major Alan Everidge
Jail Administrator

Captain Beth Shafer
Chief Detention Officer

(478)218-4900

Mission

To provide a safe and secure environment for pretrial detainees. To provide for the basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, medical care, mental health care, religious needs) of those detainees; to ensure the security of the jail from escapes; supervise inmates' day-to-day activities (feeding, cleaning, court appearances, medical appointments, visitations), transport inmates to courts appearances; transport inmates to and from the various jails and prisons throughout the State; to provide proper and current training to all officers assigned to the detention center; to provide trained officers to assist other divisions as needed: and to assist the community during times of natural and manmade disasters.

The Houston County Detention Center opened in 2002 as a state-of-the-art direct supervision facility. It is self-contained and allows for greater security of the citizens of Houston County. The facility currently houses over 500 inmates and is in the planning stages to expand to meet the growth of the County in the future.

The Center includes a fully operational medical unit that is staffed by full time nursing personnel and an on-call physician. There is a fully equipped industrial kitchen for the preparation of inmate meals. These meals are prepared by inmates with supervision from a contracted food service employee and monitored by detention staff. Supervised inmate work force personnel clean, provide laundry service, and do minor maintenance within the facility.

The Detention Center houses both males and females over the age of 17. These individuals have either been charged or convicted of misdemeanor or felony crimes and are to serve sentences of one year or less. Should they be sentenced to a longer period they would be sent to a State or Federal facility.